17 October 2009, by Angel Annie
Dad took the family off to Butlins in Minehead, giving us all a holiday instead of presents for the year. There were 13 of us in total – Dad & Lin, Me & Dan, Andy & Sarah, David & Anita, Hayley & Dave, Archie & Oscar, Paul. We made the most of the entertainments at Butlins, with the fun fair, amusements, live shows and the beach nearby, as well as the food provided as part of the package. There are a few photos from the week in the gallery.
I expect we’ll all be doing something similar next year, but will wait and see what Dad & Lin manage to find.
Categories: Angel Notes
25 September 2009, by Angel Annie
For Dan’s birthday I had clubbed together with the family to get him a Red Letter Day voucher. He decided to use it on a flying lesson and so we set off to Solent Flying School, near Bournemouth, for him to go flying. When we arrived it turned out that I could go up with him as a passenger in the back, so we both got a new experience. The little 4 seat plane was certainly different to flying in the big jets, and Dan had a great time learning the controls, and was even allowed to land the plane! There are a few pictures from the day in the gallery – ‘Away with Dan’ album.
Categories: Angel Notes
5 September 2009, by Angel Annie
I do like to keep busy, and my latest venture is to get involved with a new charity being set up. Inspired Living is intending to raise money for cancer research, produce medical research and run a big cycling project in 2010. It should certainly keep me busy over the next year or so!
Categories: Angel Notes
4 September 2009, by Angel Annie
I’m hopefully going to be taking on the duties of non-academic event organisation for the BCSWomen later in the year. In expectation I organised an all day workshop on Cracking your strengths, followed by the AGM in the evening.
The Cracking your Strengths workshop was a fascinating day, run by Helen Duguid, and helped you work out what your top 5 key strengths were. The basic principle was that you could make a huge difference by recognising and improving on your personal strengths, rather than expending more effort for less gain when trying to improve your weaknesses.
The AGM in the evening was also good, with 2 speakers and the actual AGM itself. I was confirmed as non-academic events on the committee, and Karen remains our chair. There are a lot of changes going on in the BCS at the moment, but hopefully in the BCSWomen we will continue to grow and I’m looking forward to another good year.
Categories: Angel Notes
28 July 2009, by Angel Annie
Dan & I decided to take a cheaper holiday this year, so headed off to Somerset for a long weekend camping. We found an adult’s only campsite, Doolittles, in North Curry, a tiny village near Taunton. After a few hassles finding the campsite we got our tent set up before it got dark, and without it raining. We visited Weston-Super-Mare, where we saw the sand sculptures and played in the arcades. We only had 1 day of rain and managed to find the local bowling alley and cinema to wait it out. We also visited Cheddar, exploring the caves and seeing cheese and sweets made in the traditional way.
Categories: Angel Notes
11 July 2009, by Angel Annie
Dan & I headed into Winchester for one of Julian Clary’s preview shows. I wasn’t that sure of the evening, but Dan loved it, and he’s the comedy fan. I ended up being included for a trial of a mind reading, thanks to Dan setting it up at the beginning. However it didn’t quite work out right, but hopefully it’ll work out once he starts the main shows.
Categories: Angel Notes
4 July 2009, by Angel Annie
Gilli & Mat got married in Kew Gardens, and it was a lovely day in the end, with the sun coming out in time for the photos. I really enjoyed the day, which included a bus tour of the gardens, a fabulous meal and then an evening of dancing with cheese & wine. Along with catching up with friends I hadn’t seen for ages it really was a fantastic celebration and I’m sure Gilli & Mat will love their honeymoon and be very happy together.
Categories: Angel Notes
1 July 2009, by Angel Annie
Dan is finally going to follow his dream and work for himself. He’s taking a year off from IBM to concentrate on his own business and pursue a portfolio career, combining website design with mentoring small businesses and clubs and even doing the odd professional pyrotechnic display. It means I’ll be the main wage earner for the year, though I’m sure it won’t take long for Dan’s efforts to pay off.
Categories: Angel Notes
24 June 2009, by Angel Annie
I headed into London for the day for W-Tech 2009. This was an afternoon of workshops and talks followed by an evening panel discussion and networking aimed at women in technology. I had a great day, representing BCSWomen on the BCS stand and also chairing a couple of sessions. The networking was also great, and I got to meet some fascinating people.
Categories: Angel Notes
23 June 2009, by Angel Annie
Dan & I have decided to adopt Tinker & Leia. They’re now getting on well together and Dan in particular couldn’t bear to give them up. Leia is a little charmer, which is lucky as she’s also into everything and Tinker has settled in lovely with no signs of aggression at all, although he does love to play.
It does mean I’ll be giving up fostering for the Cat Protection, but I’ll continue with managing their website and go along to events when I can.
Categories: Angel Notes, Cat Fostering
